


where the fields are painted gold

by ladypeaceful



Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, F/F, Flashbacks, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Matchmaking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23742217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladypeaceful/pseuds/ladypeaceful
Summary: Heavy-lidded eyes that were a startling shade of blue. A mouth that drew one’s gaze immediately with the way that one side of it was quirked up into a lopsided smile. David’s field of vision, which had previously been swimming with an incoherent jumble of formulas and disconnected symbols, was now only occupied by the prettiest boy he’d ever seen.
Relationships: Hanna Jung/Mia Amalie Winter, Matteo Florenzi/David (Druck)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13
Collections: Druck Open Discord 1st Anniversary Exchange





	where the fields are painted gold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InquisitorAlexander](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InquisitorAlexander/gifts).



> \- as i tend to do for most of my AUs, matteo and david are aged up in this fic; they’re 21/22 at the time of first meeting, and 23/24 in the present.
> 
> \- i'm not sure how many chapters this will have presently but this is just the first chapter so far! i hope to have the fic fully finished and posted by the time authors are revealed on the 20th, but since i was working on multiple assignments for this exchange i didn't want to put too much on my plate at once.

He really does have to thank Mia for this, honestly, David thinks with a private smile as he watches Matteo bend down to pluck a few wildflowers from the side of the road. There’s a dog barking in the distance, a child laughing, the hum of a grass cutter somewhere a little further off, the familiar jingling of wind chimes on someone’s porch. His phone buzzes in his pocket, but he’s too distracted by the way the sun reflects off Matteo’s lashes to check the notification.

David stretches out one hand, fingers curling gently into Matteo’s hair. Reflexively, Matteo leans into his touch. Just like that, the entire world seems to stop around them, before completely falling away. _This was how I fell in love with you_ , David wants to say. Matteo had been both the ocean and the lighthouse that led him back to shore, like the smell of rain in the air as well as the feel of it on his skin; he’d reminded David that, in a world of endings, there would always be new beginnings.

The day he’d met Matteo, David had only vaguely recognized the blond boy from the photos that Mia had shown him of her new flatmates, shortly before moving in with them. They were an unlikely bunch, Mia explained, the type that could only be brought together through the immeasurable power of apartment listings on the Internet. Hans, a local drag performer and bartender, had been the one to reach out to Mia when she was looking for an apartment. Linn was in her final year of university and, as it turned out, had a wicked sense of humor that one might not notice right away because she usually saved her quips for when people least expected them.

“And that’s Matteo,” Mia tapped on his face, zooming in on the slightly blurry image, “who I can’t really get a read on, but I did hear from Leonie that he apparently got into _culinary_ school and then dropped out? I feel like there’s a story there.”

He wouldn’t actually see Matteo in person for another couple of weeks, not until he was over at Mia’s flatshare one day during midterm season, studying in her room with their usual group sprawled on the ground, papers scattered everywhere, Amira absently clicking her pen. Sam lay on her back on Mia’s bed, muttering strings of French vocabulary to herself under her breath, while Carlos stared off into the distance, a slight frown on his face, pen hovering over a half-formed study sheet. Jonas was leaning over to compare the answers from his math homework that David had already finished; he himself had been stuck on the last question in his problem set for a physics exam that he already felt underprepared for, so it took him a moment to register that someone had ducked their head into the room.

Heavy-lidded eyes that were a startling shade of blue. A mouth that drew one’s gaze immediately with the way that one side of it was quirked up into a lopsided smile. David’s field of vision, which had previously been swimming with an incoherent jumble of formulas and disconnected symbols, was now only occupied by the prettiest boy he’d ever seen.

But suddenly—and too late—David realized that _he_ was the one being spoken to, from the expectant (and curious) look in those eyes, and he had absolutely no idea what had been said to him.

“Sorry, what?” He’d scrambled for an excuse, the one immediately at hand in the form of his scratch paper covered in scribbled-out equations. “My brain is fried.”

Matteo had let out a chuckle then, lips splitting into an easy grin. “No worries. I was just asking if you wanted to stay for dinner.” His voice was smooth and low in a way that had David wishing he could listen to him talk forever.

“You gotta, man.” Jonas nudged David with his foot. “Luigi makes the best pasta.”

“Okay, yeah.” David nodded, throat suddenly too dry to say much else. Thankfully, Matteo didn’t linger in the doorway for longer than that because David could _feel_ Mia staring intently at the back of his head.

As the door closed, he turned to face her, making sure to keep his voice deadly calm. “I swear I _will_ bean you in the forehead with this eraser.”

“I have _no_ idea what you’re talking about,” Mia said, rather unconvincingly, maybe because she and Amira were both valiantly failing to keep straight faces beneath what David thought was the deadliest glare he could muster, given the circumstances.

“For fuck’s sake,” he muttered. “He’s not even my type.”

Amira gave him the smirk she reserved for when there was no point in arguing with her, because she was right. “You know, habibi, somehow I don’t really see that being an issue here.”

After they’d eaten, David chose to forgo the option of watch Jonas kick Carlos’ ass at FIFA in the living room in favor of offering Matteo help with cleaning up in the kitchen. Ignoring the knowing smirk and accompanying wink that Mia shot in his direction as she slipped out of the kitchen to join the others, David carefully moved the stacks of dirty plates from the dining table to the sink and began to fill it up.

There was a bit of leftover sauce that had been sitting on the stove, and David watched as Matteo ran a wooden spoon around the sides of the saucepan before tilting its contents into a little glass container to put away in the fridge. He handed the pan to David, who suddenly couldn’t look directly at Matteo without feeling like his whole body would be set alight.

Turning back to the sink, he found himself dragging his finger along the cooled metal, to which still clung a few drops of the sauce, and bringing it to his lips.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Matteo said quietly.

David felt the heat rise to his cheeks at the thought of Matteo watching him. He quickly plunged the pan into its waiting bath, submerging his hands up to his wrists in the warm, soapy water. “Yeah, um. Thanks for inviting me.”

“It was my pleasure.” Matteo sounded further away now, like he’d walked back towards the dining table. David heard the clatter of metal against metal as Matteo gathered up all of their used silverware.

“It’s been a while since the last time I had a real home-cooked meal,” David continued, almost not realizing what he was about to say. “Not since I left my parents’ place.”

His heart was in his throat. It had taken him months to tell Mia that he lived with his sister in a tiny apartment, yet here he was on the verge of spilling his life story to a boy he’d just met. But there was something about Matteo, some kind of ineffable potential that made David think he’d understand, no matter what. That David could say anything and trust Matteo to still be standing there, gazing back with those soft blue eyes when David looked at him again.

Of course, David wasn’t that kind of person. And he didn’t know what kind of person Matteo actually was. So, he opted instead to grab a sponge from the edge of the sink and start scrubbing. And as he scrubbed, he mentally prepared himself for Matteo to ask any question. He wondered if he’d lie to Matteo as easily as he’d lied to everyone else so far. It’d always been easy, after all, for him to do what guaranteed his own safety. He didn’t have trouble keeping others at arm’s length, letting new acquaintances come and go as steadily as the tide came in, then pulled away from the shore.

But right then, he wished desperately that it were as easy to do just the opposite, to let the wave crash over him and for it to carry him out to sea. He wanted to believe that he’d be able to find his way back to land. That the waters would be calm enough for him to float out there for just a little while, weightless and uninhibited, before returning to solid ground.

But no inquiry came from Matteo. David’s feet remained firmly rooted in the sand.

He heard the other boy pad gently back over to the sink and deposit the silverware into the sink. David kept his gaze firmly on the plate in his hands, even as he felt Matteo linger at his side.

“You’re welcome here any time you’d like.”

And just like that, David felt the water coming in at his ankles, beginning to tug the sand out from beneath his feet bit by bit.


End file.
